Temporarily Side Tracked To a New Project and Loving It

For the past two days I have been scrubbing down the house and cooking up a storm for a gathering of ladies from my church circle this morning.  After about two hours the house emptied out. leftovers were put away and dishes were washed.  DH vacated the premises before the ladies arrived and is not due back until later this afternoon.  Now the house seems altogether too quiet and even the dogs are bored.  I’d love to sew, but I think I better take a nap before picking up scissors, rotary cutter or needle.

During breaks from all that activity, I pulled out a charm kit that I purchased from Wanda Hanson at Exuberant Color last summer and started working on my very first colorwash quilt.   

I confess, when I first started separating the 200 unique pieces of fabric in the kit, I had a bit of a panic.  Many hours later and with some long-distance coaching here is the layout as it currently stands.  I still see some more tweaking I want to try, but I'm pretty close to finished.

When she put the kits up for sale, Wanda said that she considered this a “starter” kit and that for a top which uses 196 pieces, as this one does, she usually starts with a selection of 250 fabrics.  I did add a handful of additional cuts to smooth out some of the blends, but not all that many.  

This and that...

Last rose of summer?

...maybe not with a long-range forecast like this and a bush loaded with buds.  It rained this weekend and that was very good news, indeed, but I would have expected cooler temps by now.

 

My Jane Stickle collection for October has grown.

Quilting slowly continues on my Christmas wall hanging. 

Probably very little more stitching will be done the rest of the day as my eyes are still not back to normal following an eye doctor visit this morning.

Just Checking In

Most of my projects are in that in-between stage that does not lend itself to fresh photographs, but I do not want my blog to go dormant so it’s time to check in. 

I can report that my collection of completed Jane Stickle blocks for the month is growing.  The outer two blocks incorporate some of the fabric cuts Wanda Hanson shared with me.

Other blocks are in the process of being appliqued.   

It seems like I spend more time prepping my blocks for construction than I do in actual sewing.  Here is some of my batik stash I've pulled for possible use in future blocks.  Some of these will be difficult to incorporate because of the large size of their motifs.

I’m also working on a winter-themed mug rug for an exchange.  Unfortunately, it will be some time before I can post a picture of it, since my exchange partner is not supposed to see it before it arrives in the mail.  Oh, well, here is a teaser peek just in case Wendi sees this.

We enjoyed a brief visit from long-time friends from Dallas this weekend and Stitch ‘n Chat friends stopped by this afternoon.  I missed the first Stitch ‘n Chat meeting of the season in September because we were travelling, so it was especially nice to see everyone.

Play Time during a Rainy Weekend

The housework beckoned, the Jane Stickle blocks were demanding attention and there are full laundry hampers.  So what did I do during our nice rainy weekend?  I stitched up a fun wall quilt kit I purchased in Madison.  It shouldn’t have taken nearly as long as it did, but I experimented with machine binding and had to do some unsewing before I was ready to call it finished. 

Usually I don’t enjoy the scary side of Halloween, but this little guy looked so cheerful at a vendor’s booth at the Quilt Expo he just had to come home with me.  The kit shorted me on some of the orange cuts.  Fortunately, I had orange remnants in my stash, so no worries.

I also sandwiched my Christmas wall hanging quilt and it is ready for quilting on my Janome. 

Finally, I am ashamed to confess that there was very little progress on Jane Stickle blocks in September.  These are the three I completed.

I now have 83 center blocks of 169 completed.  I did spend some time Sunday kitting up more blocks and I have one ready for hand applique.  Progress.